In February, 1991, the US Postal Service (USPS) implemented postage discount incentives referred to as Destination Entry Discounts to mailers if they arranged for the transport of their finished & verified mailings (e.g., quantities of standard mail, periodicals, bound printed matter, parcel post) at their own expense to locations further downstream within the postal network. Numerous types and categories of mail can ultimately receive Destination Entry Discounts. Though the USPS currently emphasizes standard mail, these discounts can also be extended to first class mail including letters and flats plus small parcels and periodicals. Other classes and types of mail may receive different discount structures offered by other postal authorities and private posts. This grouping of mail types is generally referred to as business mail. Transporting business mail further downstream within the postal network requires delivery of the mailings to a destination entry, also referred to as a regional processing facility, as close as possible to the intended destination address. By enabling direct transport of verified business mail, hereafter referred to as “mail”, by the mailer as opposed to the postal service, the number of destination entry stops between the mailer and the addressees is reduced. This in turn reduces the costs the USPS would normally incur for providing trucks, gas, man-hours, logistical maintenance, etc.
Generally, the USPS postal network includes a plurality of destination entries positioned throughout the United States in which the mail is processed as it is transported from the mailer to the addressee through the postal network. The various destination entries include Bulk Mail Centers (BMCs), Sectional Center Facilities (SCFs), Destination Delivery Units (DDUs) and Destination Area Distribution Centers [DADC] locations for mailings classified as periodicals. Each of these respective destination entries have a select level of presence within a given region of the US, and thus enables a select level of discount granularity, ranging from lowest discount granularity to highest.
To take advantage of the discount incentives, mailers typically employ drop shipping—an arrangement wherein mailings are consolidated and transported by a private carrier hired by the mailer to an applicable destination entry downstream. A lower discount is afforded a business mailing transported by the mailer to a BMC because there are fewer such facilities within a given region (e.g., a single BMC may serve one or more states), while the highest discount is afforded a mailing expressly transported to a DDU as these are more abundant and specific to a particular locale within a region (e.g., a neighborhood post office that serves a select number of ZIP Codes).
For a mailer to take advantage of such discounts in an efficient way, they must be able to easily group and package the mail in accord with an intended destination entry. Further, the mailer must be able to accurately pinpoint which destination entry or entries are applicable for discount purposes based on the makeup of their mailing, as well as determine the level of discounts applicable. Still further, the mailer must be able to coordinate delivery times appropriately, process USPS compliant forms, and ensure correct delivery of the mailing by the preferred carrier. Ultimately, the character or makeup of the mailing—relative mail piece weights, piece counts, delivery point designations, etc.—must be weighed against delivery options and destination entry criteria to properly ensure destination entry discounts. While various mail preparation software packages exist for preparing mailings in accord with postal authority rules, these packages provide limited tools for the preparation of destination entry discounts. Furthermore, these software packages do not feature integrated real-time logistic data access for enabling convenient drop ship preparation. Resultantly, the mailer must often employ ancillary tools and applications to perform such analysis, which requires additional data entry and processing steps to be performed. Nonetheless, even when in such cases, these ancillary/peripheral tools usually limit their analysis and/or destination entry depth to a single destination entry (e.g., BMC), and therefore limits the granularity of discount available based on the mailing.